April 2016 Competition Winners

Here at Rust-Oleum HQ we had an outstanding month for entries and thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of your upcycling projects and furniture transformations. It was a very tough task to pick our favourites from so many great projects, but with much deliberation the ten runners up and our lucky top prizewinner have been chosen.

The top prize this month of £250 went to Carmen Slijpen who is part of a new charity in Lewes, East Sussex who aim to build and run a three screen independent cinema for the community. Carmen, as creative director of the project, decided to use the hoarding that went up around the site to promote conversation around film and stir up excitement about the upcoming cinema. The 30 metre long hoarding turned into a fantastic community project where over six months volunteer artists came together to paint iconic film images on the wooden panels with Rust-Oleum Chalkboard Paint. With a further 10 metre stretch of hoarding due to be finished in June there is sure to be a lot more movie stars popping up in Lewes.

Runners up

Frances Hallam, along with her partner, built from scratch a shepherds hut as a garden retreat. They decorated the whole of the inside and some cheap car boot furniture finds with Rust-Oleum Chalky Finish Furniture Paint in Clotted Cream, Salmon and Bramwell. With a larger hut in the pipeline Frances says she wouldn’t hesitate to use the paint and wax again.

Freya Crowley, having just moved into her first home, has been collecting second hand furniture with the plan to upcycle them and make them her own. She has breathed new life into two old chairs with Rust-Oleum Satin Finish Furniture Paint in Cornflower Blue and Slate. Freya has gone on to reupholster the chair seat pads with bold African style print fabric, which she drew inspiration for from the Nigerian fashion designer Lisa Folawiyo. Freya says she loves the modern colour pallet that Rust-Oleum offer and how they compliment her chosen African fabrics.

Imogen Vibert has perfectly combined colours for a fun and bold chest of drawers. Using Rust-Oleum Chalky Finish Furniture Paint in Chalk White, Dusky Pink, Mustard, Powder Blue and Cocoa she has painted each one of the drawers in a different colour making the random design of the drawers really stand out.

Jessica Osborne purchased a lovely, yet tired, French style set of drawers from a charity shop for £30 and has brought them right up to date. Using Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch in Berry Pink she has fully sprayed the drawers then added accents of gold to the handles and legs with Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch Craft Enamel in Gold. The colour combination works wonderfully and the drawers are now stunning.

Shelley Delaney has updated an old telephone table purchased from a second hand furniture shop and given it a trendy 60’s style update. Painting the piece with Rust-Oleum Chalky Finish Furniture Paint in Anthracite she finished it off with a coat of wax, some copper accents with Painter’s Touch Craft Enamel and a bold print fabric for the seat cushion. The piece is totally transformed and streets apart from its former self.

Marleen de Veij, after moving into her new home, decided to paint her kitchen units instead of renewing them, totally updating her mismatched kitchen. Using Rust-Oleum Gloss Finish Furniture Paint in Dove she unified the colour of her cabinets whilst also giving them a more modern feel. After putting some shelving up to finish the transformation, Marleen also customised some jars with Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch Sun Yellow spray paint to store ingredients.

Helen Bray, whilst decorating her stairs, added some Belgrave coloured details from the Rust-Oleum Chalky Finish Furniture Paint range to the banister and side panels, tying the colour in with the wallpaper applied to the stair risers. The combination works perfectly and Helen now has a totally unique design for her stairs.

Jayne Walker has given a beautiful vintage feel to an old storage cabinet on brass castors using Rust-Oleum Chalky Finish Furniture Paint in Chalk White and Winter Grey. By first painting the piece in the Chalk White, Jayne then over coated the piece with the Winter Grey, distressing the paintwork to show both colours. To finish she transferred a French style image onto the front of the door using wax paper, completing the shabby chic look.